One of my favorite scenes in the movie was when Eddie/Dirk is sitting on the couch at the house where they sold the cocaine(?) to (Alfred Molina--also great part/great actor!) He kind of hazes out then comes to the realization about what he really wants to do
with his life. The music in the background bears this out as he dreams about the good life he had before. Mark's acting can be subtle but oh so dead on.

Well, I'm s'posed to be cleaning, but uh...
ANYWAY...
Yeah, Mark has a great command of facial expression, doesn't he? This is also apparent in "The Corruptor", which I will comment on in a sec, since I don't think the topic link for it is working...

The part that always gets me is when he blows up at everybody on the shoot, and starts yelling "You aren't my Mom!" and "You aren't the King of me!" etc. Obviously, he never dealt with the family issues he left behind. A friend of mine suggested that perhaps is Mother might have sexually abused him at some point, which is where he got such a high regard for his own p*n*s and what it could do for him. I mean, he had to get the idea of selling the jack-off sessions from SOMEWHERE.
Also, you can see that the drugs are taking their toll; he has trouble getting it up; he is paranoid; and the former sweetness has been replaced by a hard edge. (He doesn't give a humble thank-you speech at later awards; he can't be bohered to even shake hands with a new kid; his ego is inflating in interviews)... It took him realizing he was expendible to bring him back down to earth, and also to find out there was very little else he could do for a living. We can't know at the end if he kicked the drugs or not (probably not), but at least his self-confidence is back.
One scene that sticks in my mind is when he first meets Rollergirl, where she strips and gets set to literally jump his bones! That look on his face when he is sitting there waiting, just cracks me up!! (I'll bet Mark would have done that scene for NOTHING! lol!)
Oh, and the part where they are running away from the cocaine house, and his car goes out on him... He realizes that he is at the bottom of the ladder. The fact that he chooses to go back to see Burt Reynolds (Jack?) instead of trying to go home, shows that that group of people really replaced his former "family" (a pretty-much-non-existant BLAH Dad, and a bi*ch Mother!);
Even though, to me, the entire lifestyle sucks, you can see that he is doing the best he can within it, and he has goals, dreams, etc. all the time.
Dirk is such a contrast to all his other characters, even though most of them are searching for love and acceptance of some kind.
I guess one of my faves is when he is dancing. Really brings back some memories!!
Mark is a good dancer--maybe not quite John Travolta, but then he was only about 6 or 7 when "Saturday Night Fever" came out!!

I think the thing which amazed me so much about the whole film is that all of them are so cavalier about having sex anytime, anywhere, in front of anybody. The only person who has a problem with it is the guy who sets up the camera shots, and he ends up killing himself over it (his so-called wife, specifically).

Also, wasn't Rollergirl sitting behind Eddie in the classroom when they got the test, and she left? I kept waiting for him to say he recognized her from school. But given her reaction to the other guy who said that, I guess it's a good thing Dirk didn't!

As for "The Corruptor", as I said before, one of my fave scenes is where Danny is just sitting there, when Nick comes calling, with his shirt off, and his rosary tattoo showing in all it's glory, and ****, he looks SO FINE!!
But as for acting, there is one part where, after his father gets backed for the mob money, Danny goes to see Billy Woo (or whatever his name is-- the second banana to Uncle Benny), and Billy lays out "the way it is" for Danny. You can see Danny sitting there, without a word, listening, thinking, trying to decide what he should do next. You can see it in his eyes that he knows he is in a corner, but he can't find a way out at that point. He wants to tell Woo to stick it, but for his Dad's sake, he cannot.
When an actor can portray emotions without dialogue, to me, this says Greatness, and I believe Mark has IT.
This is borne out in "Three Kings", too.
So, I must conclude that "The Perfect Storm" will be truly AWESOME, w/w.o. SPFX!!

A friend had made an extra tape of the film for me, which had the 20-25 extra minutes in it. Except that he forgot to mention they were all the way at the END of the credits!
When I watched the film, I kept looking and looking, but never saw anything different.
I ran it all the way to the end of the credits, but no further.
After I found out the extra scenes were at the very end, I put the tape in to watch...
and wouldn't you know it; the dam* thing screwed up!! The tape was jammed from when I previously rewound it, and I couldn't unjam it, and it got all twisted and totally unusable. Thank God that was only an extra copy and not my pre-recorded copy!
Anyway, I wrote to him and told him what happened and he says he will make for me another copy of the extra scenes. So whenever I get to see them, I'll let y'all know what I think! I hear they are very funny and insightful.

Your description of Mark's acting is so true...he DOES have a wonderful ability to say it all just through his facial expressions. That's great acting is'nt it?
I read with great interest your take on some of the scences, some of which I never thought of or noticed before. There was definately some emotional abuse from Eddie's mother. That character was so miserable in her own personal life that she took it out on her son. She was jealous of him, his relationship with his girlfriend etc. I never noticed that Roller Girl was sitting behind Eddie in class...will have to ck that out. I also just purchased a copy of "Boogie Nights" that claims to have the extra scences...now I'll know where to find them. You know I mentioned that other actor
(Alfred Molina) who played the cocaine buyer? If you thought his character was interesting and well acted, check out an older movie he was in with Gary Oldman (another GREAT actor)
called "Prick Up Your Ears". It is an independant film and both Gary and Alfred were great in it. OK, back to Mark. I agree with you about Mark's acting range...he is smart enough to accept varied roles and is pulling it off skillfully. The only thing I really pick up on in every one of his characters is that element of innocence or sweetness or shyness though I haven't seen "Three Kings". Don't really believe he is typecast...we rather like that little wisp of his personality coming through don't we?

Yep, that we do! It is sometimes hard for me to imagine him as a rough-and-tumble street kid, stealing, doing drugs, beating up people for beer... But he IS somewhat of a camelion (sp), so I guess... I mean, I know it is true that he did all that, and I know his old life helps him now in his acting, b/c he has been where a lot of other actors have not (including jail at 16), But still, that "whisp of his personality" as you so eloquently put it, does lace through, even in David McCall.
You will love him in 3K, but be prepared to scream a couple of times...they don't treat him gently in places, and it is maddening to watch! I think I'm going to bawl my eyes out at Perfect Storm... *sigh*...

I watched the "deleted scenes" at the end of "Boogie Nights" last night. Have you all seen them? They are GREAT especially "Brock and Chico-16mm". The camera rolls on and on while Mark works on a scene with a fellow actor. It is absolutely hilarious. You can really get a feel for Mark's personality and sense of humor. I was DE-lighted to be able to see this side of him adlibbing etc. It was an unexpected treat and I highly recommend you all checkin' it out. If you really love Mark Wahlberg it is not to be missed.
I swear, he is the EPITOMY of cool and the man makes me LAUGH. Also, check out "Under The Table" and "Mixing...". Ah Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark................................

Clare, Clare, Clare, Clare...!
Well, FINALLY, you've seen something I have not!! My pal from Cali did send me the movie w/ the extra scenes, but did not tell me where they were located, so I watched the entire film, looking for them, not knowing they were at the end after the credits!!
So I went back again to watch, but the dam* tape had jammed up and would not play anymore, and I could not fix it. I asked him if I could send him a tape to recopy just those scenes and he said sure, so now I'm going to have to do that. I wanted to throw something when the tape F.U.B.A.R.'d!!

Only certain tapes have the extra scenes at the end, after the credits. They are harder to come by than the regular tapes, too.
HEY, we danced like than when I was in school. I don't see anything funny about it.
It did bring back some nice memories, though.

I laughed when I read your response about the dancing scene and that you did'nt find it funny especially since you used to dance like that back then. I had the same reaction
about Carol's response to my "Boxers or Briefs?'" post. Has nothin' to do with age, right? I quess in some ways we have an edge over the young 'uns don't we? But honestly, even I have to chuckle at some of the stuff we liked way back then...like those huge bell bottoms we used to wear.....
Anyway, does'nt it look like Mark was havin' fun doing those old dance steps, move ova John Travolta!

I knew it! A kindred spirit!! lol!
Yeah, it is funny in a nastolgic way, but not a "look-at-those-moves/clothes/people!"-way... Oh well, someday THEY will understand.
Yeah, Mark can dance! No wonder he "commands" it in "Good Vibrations", I believe! I'll bet he is a very fun partner, too. "Shake that ass!"
Hey now, I LOVED bell bottoms!! They made my butt look smaller!! lol!

I don't get to watch Mark movies more than once cuz I have a three year old who tires me out!! I'm usually in bed by 9 every nite. So I can't recall scenes with as much detail as you guys can -- but my fave scenes in BN are the one with Mark leaving his house - where he's screaming at his mom and drool is flying out of his mouth. Man, that is really getting lost in your role, ya know?? I mean, he couldn't have planned that, could he?? That scene just ripped my heart out. I also like the scene where he is being interviewed for the documentary, and you can tell he has completely lost his innocence and sense of humility. God I love that man!!

The scene that ripped MY heart out was when he was in the car with that idiot trying to get it up...the despair on his face, it made me cry. And when he was asking Jack for help after the escapade at the drug buyer's house...he looked so pitiful!